Question Number: 30053

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 1/27/2016

Al of Strathroy, ON Canada asks...

Not exact quotes. A very interesting question cropped up recently in a referee group. I paraphrased the LOTG.

Law 10: A goal cannot be scored if the team has committed an infringement of the LOTG.

Law 3: A team consists of no more than 11 players.

Someone not part of the 11 -- a substitute (coach, trainer) -- strikes another person just before his team scores a goal.

Does the goal count?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Al
Interesting question and one of those outlier situations that probably only ever happens on paper. It is also a good exercise in researching what the decision should be in these off the field incidents and the restarts. Talk that the dropped ball restart will be done away with for offences involving players moving off the field of play such as the hold / pull back behind the goal line / touchline
Anyway the law is somewhat mute on the point of substitutes / bench officials committing offences as to outlier situations as it only deals with situations where the incidents affect play on the field of play which necessitates play being stopped. I can't really see it being dealt with accurately in a game situation and every chance that the referee will probably allow the goal, send off the offender and restart with a kick off. My sense of justice though would tell me that a player from a team that commits VC will be dealt with harshly by the referee and that there also has to be a sanction based on the statement in Law 10. With perhaps a lone referee or ARs who are busy with the game any decision will based on the premise that the goal could have been scored before / after the VC with no certainty as to the timing of the event or perhaps that there was retaliation and also the timing of that. The challenge for the referee will be to determine the exact moment of the VC and who committed it. Did it happen before or after the goal and what actually happened.With a 4th official present or an alert AR the referee may be alerted to stop play immediately so that the restart problem does not arise. If play does not get stopped will a 4th Official be certain of timing on incidents if he is involved in dealing with an off the field incident. It is certainly a reason to stop play. Case in point was the infamous Zidane / Materazzi incident. What was the timing of the VC. Did it happen before the free kick offence to France or after. It looked like the on field decision that the referee thought it was after. Not a big deal there yet had it been a goal to France the timing would have been critical?
My take on it is that we know on paper that an offence has been committed by say a substitute of the scoring team so a goal cannot be awarded as there has been an infringement of the Laws by the scoring team before the goal was scored. The offender is dismissed for violent conduct and the restart is a dropped ball from where the ball was when play was (would have been) stopped which should have been before the goal. As that location will not be determined then the advice in other situations is to restart with a dropped ball inside the goal area. Some suggest a goal kick restart yet the challenge there is when it last comes off a defender.
As a final point we know that if say there was an extra person on the field of play was part of the team or the offence was committed by a substitute on the field of play the Law is clear about that in that the goal is disallowed and the restart is an IDFK in the case of a substitute and a dropped ball in the case of a team official. We also know that if a player is already off the field of play and commits an offence, play is restarted with a dropped ball from the position of the ball when play was stopped which in the case of a goal that has to be disallowed is inside the goal area.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Al,
interesting to be sure my friend, you created a monster of a dilemma as we struggled with additional information and our own opinions as to the LOTG.

If a red fan ran into the field and struck an opposing player or off the field into the opposing technical area and struck the opposing coach while red scored. The referee then turns about and AR/4th state hey look at what just happened prior to the ball entering the goal, there was no infringement by the team scoring was there. FAN = OUTSIDE AGENT

The bench personal comprise a variety of people is there a distinction between subs and trainer, coach etc.. as to their accountability to infringe the LOTG.

All Bench personal listed on the roster are permitted to be in the technical area and even on occasion to enter the field during a stoppage BUT are they considered under the LOTG as part of the team with respect to infringements??

EVERYONE can be guilty of misconduct but only the substitutes and players are sent off or shown cards. Trainers, coaches, managers - the restarts for their actions on or off the FOP are drop balls which suggests they are treated as separate type of outside agents? Trainers, first aid, coach, manager, (other bench personal) are mandated to stay within their designated areas and act responsibly) If they FAIL to do so the referee can dismiss them and record their actions in the match special incident report

Substitutes and possibly substituted players who are under the referee authority and can be guilty of three cautionable actions , i.e.
unsporting behaviour, dissent by word or action and delaying the restart of play % or: all 7 of the send off red card offences.

We have 11 players to start!

Striking away from play is an act of violent conduct as it HAS no credibility if other than to protect one from an attack

We have ONGOING PLAY !
WHO is the person is striking!
WHOM is this person being struck?
WHERE? -- on or off the FOP
WHEN -- (BEFORE) a who goal is scored, the who strikes the whom
RESTART Does the referee:
{A}. Still award the goal, deal with the misconduct and disciplinary sanctions and restart with the kick off? Or
{B}. Deal with the disciplinary sanctions, take back the goal and start with a drop ball?

Someone not part of the 11 red players playing - a red substitute, red substituted player, red manager, red coach, red trainer) - strikes another (PERSON) just before his own red team scores a goal.

AR /4th sees and confirms to referee the incident occurred BEFORE the goal was scored, our referee now knows this tidbit of information before the kick off occurs

Here are some of the possible tidbits.


(1) red SUB strikes own red coach (players cries why can't I play!)
restart A

(2) red Trainer strikes Fan (outside agent) (Get lost bum you can not be here!)
restart A

(3) red Coach strikes opposing sent off player (outside agent)(Get lost bum you can not be here!)
restart A

(4) Red assistant coach strikes DOG (I hate wandering dogs they poop!)
restart A

(5) red Coach strikes opposing coach (you are targeting my good players)
restart A

(6) red substituted player strikes opposing player waiting to renter i.e. injury equipment change (I had to leave because of your dirty play)
restart B

(7) red Manager strikes opposing substituted player (you played dirty)
restart A

(8) red Assistant coach strikes an opposing player waiting to renter i.e. injury equipment change (you big faker!)
restart B

(9) red SUB strikes opposing SUB at mid line (get off my foot you boob!)
restart A

(10) red Manager, red coach, or red trainer strikes opposing player on the FOP
Restart B

(11) red SUB or red substituted player strikes opposing player on the FOP (I only held my arm out for him to run into to!)
Restart B

It seems to me the LOTG nor my FIFA contacts do not adequately explain or address the VC team concept at least to my satisfaction perhaps the new rewrite will help appease my uncertainty.

Cheers

Answer provided by Referee MrRef

I am at a loss to adequately explain but as we are bound to follow the directives from FIFA as best we can. We approached FIFA to help us with this dilemma. W received 2 responses because I requested further clarification. I reposted their 2nd response


quote" I hope you understand but we don't have a lot of time to debate this with you or the people that may write. I once again took time to check my answer with people with more authority than I.

I presented the following scenario to keep it simple as we are talking about persons outside the field of play and not players:

While the play is going on, a person (substitute, substituted player, coach, manager, trainer, etc.,) from the technical area strikes, kicks the opposing team's coach, manager, etc. outside the field of play. The incident happens just before a goal is scored by a person from the team scoring, but it has not interfered with the play on the field. The AR who saw the incident brings it to the attention of the referee just before the kick off takes place.

Does the referee:
1. Still award the goal, deal with the misconduct and disciplinary sanctions and restart with the kick off? Or
2. Deal with the disciplinary sanctions, take back the goal and start with a drop ball?

The reply is as I indicated earlier, that is 1, if the incident has not impacted the defenders on the field of play. You would consider 2 if the incident impacted the players on the field of play.

What makes this question difficult is that the incident happened outside the field of play. Incidents similar to this on the field of play are in the LOG under Violent Conduct. end quote